diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index 11a0acbbf8..1fcef7b29a 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2009-03-27  Nick Clifton  <nickc@redhat.com>
+
+	* section.c (bfd_get_section_contents): Detect and handle the case
+	where a section has the SEC_IN_MEMORY flag set but no actual
+	contents allocated.
+
 2009-03-26  Alan Modra  <amodra@bigpond.net.au>
 
 	PR 6494
diff --git a/bfd/section.c b/bfd/section.c
index 5a335a6290..dc8225f39d 100644
--- a/bfd/section.c
+++ b/bfd/section.c
@@ -1436,6 +1436,16 @@ bfd_get_section_contents (bfd *abfd,
 
   if ((section->flags & SEC_IN_MEMORY) != 0)
     {
+      if (section->contents == NULL)
+	{
+	  /* This can happen because of errors earlier on in the linking process.
+	     We do not want to seg-fault here, so clear the flag and return an
+	     error code.  */
+	  section->flags &= ~ SEC_IN_MEMORY;
+	  bfd_set_error (bfd_error_invalid_operation);
+	  return FALSE;
+	}
+      
       memcpy (location, section->contents + offset, (size_t) count);
       return TRUE;
     }